Tampa Bay Lightning and Lakewood Ranch in promotional partnership

Saturday

Jan 26, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Team and development will work together

By DOUG FERNANDES

In a move aimed at expanding regional reach, master-planned community Lakewood Ranch has become the exclusive residential real estate development partner of the Tampa Bay Lightning professional hockey team.

The multi-year agreement, which also involves the Tampa Bay Times Forum where the Lightning play home games, creates a partnership that will enable the team to expand its regional footprint.

For the Lightning, the agreement also is part of a larger pro hockey push to recapture fan interest after an extended player lockout that threatened to cancel the National Hockey League's 2012-2013 season.

Lakewood Ranch, meanwhile, gains the ability to use the team's reach into key northern markets to grow its residential and commercial real estate businesses.

As part of the deal, Lakewood Ranch will receive extensive brand exposure in the Times Forum for Lightning games, including LED signage and an in-game feature highlighting the Lakewood Ranch area.

"We get all the corner boards, where all the fights occur," said Rex Jensen, president and CEO of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, the developer of Lakewood Ranch. "Whenever a game is televised, you're probably going to see (Lakewood Ranch) a couple of hundred times.

"We're going to be across Canada, and the same with Boston, New York and Chicago. All of those are really key markets for us. We're not known much outside the area."

"It's like Sarasota at the Oriole games," Sarasota County Commissioner Joe Barbetta said.

Schroeder-Manatee is not the first local company to attempt to benefit from a link to a professional sports team. Last year, Venice-based Tervis Tumbler partnered with the Chicago Cubs baseball team and had its logo featured on an outfield wall.

At the same time, the Lightning name will be more visible around Lakewood Ranch. The development is expected to get the chance to host a Lightning and NHL Alumni golf tournament at one of its 18-hole courses over the next two years.

"We're trying to expand," said Steve Yzerman, the team's vice president and general manager. "How do we grow our game? We reach out to other areas and hopefully provide a benefit to them, not only entertainment and love of the game, but an opportunity for them to capitalize on the business synergy of it as well."